Cowboy Come Home

by Sinclair Jayne

  He laughed. He felt pretty superpower-less compared to everyone in his family.

  “Pretty sure only you’d say that.”

  Piper kissed the corner of his mouth, and he chased her lips until she sighed and her body went pliant in his arms.

  “So Grey’s, huh? The first building in town. A former brothel. Of course.” She winked. “I trust that’s history. Not present.” She eyed him, and he felt caught. It would be natural for him to ask her. He always did. Damn he was being dumb. Dumber than dumb. He could hardly hide who he was, what he was from her all weekend.

  “Um…Piper, listen…”

  “You don’t want me to go with you,” she interrupted and pulled away.

  He immediately felt the distance. And his hands flexed with the effort to not pull her back into his arms.

  “No. I do. It’s not that.”

  “Pretty sure it’s that, Boone,” she said softly. Her gaze held his and he wished she were pissed at him, yelling.

  “Go. Go meet whomever you want to meet, Boone. I’d appreciate a heads-up if it’s an old or not so old flame.”

  He felt like she’d struck him. For a moment his jaw was so tight he couldn’t unlock it to speak.

  “Where the hell did that come from?”

  “You’ve been acting strange all day. Secretive. Hot and cold.”

  Damn. If that’s what a double college degree and a massage certification did for a person, he was in a whole lotta trouble.

  “You think I’d do that?” He felt his eyes go squinty. He rarely got pissed but when he did, his brothers and friends had always backed down. “Raw fury” his brother Rohan had dubbed his reaction. “You think I’d meet a woman behind your back?”

  Piper drew in a shaky breath. Squared her shoulders. Met his turbulent glare. One more thing to love about her…no. Not love. Like. Admire. He forced himself to calm down. She was brave. Smart and full of courage.

  “It happens, Boone. No I don’t think that. But you are a beautiful man inside and out. I know a lot of women notice because you’re like a magnet wherever you go.”

  Just like that his tension eased.

  “Baby, men aren’t beautiful. And you’ve caused your fair share of whiplash when we go out and dance, especially when we dance.”

  Grey’s had dancing. He loved to dance, but dancing with Piper was an art form. With her he could dance all night. And then when they’d get home to his small trailer, they’d dance in a different way for hours. Sometimes he felt desperate, like he couldn’t get close enough, deep enough inside her.

  Suddenly he couldn’t remember why he didn’t want her to go to Grey’s.

  “And Grey’s has dancing.” So now, like a total contrary idiot, he wanted to persuade her? He caught her around her small waist, hand flat on the small of her back, and pulled her deep into him. He did a little two-step and a dip. She moved with him. Her hand stroked through his hair, but he could tell her mind was elsewhere.

  “Well see,” she said. “Maybe later. I’m going to walk around the town.” She pulled away casually. She didn’t look at him, and Boone felt like he died a little inside. “I’m going to see if there are any community boards where I can post my business cards so if anyone from town wants a quick massage they can find me and get a discount.”

  “Java Café,” he said without thinking. “And the feed store, Big Z’s and the library.” He caught her staring. “At a guess,” he inserted.

  Piper looked suspicious. He had a wild urge to scoop her up and take her into the trailer, blow off his dad and the rodeo committee and just spend the afternoon with Piper because their time was running out.

  “Have fun,” she said and the distance in her crystal-clear eyes chilled him to his marrow.

  “It’s just a beer,” Boone said. “And a round of pool maybe.”

  “Boone, I am not your mother.”

  “Let’s go to dinner,” he said recklessly. “Meet me at Grey’s after you put up some of your cards. Or take a quick look around the town, and I’ll help you take your cards around before dinner.”

  Stupid. Everyone knew him in town. Everyone. Yeah he’d been a youth rodeo champion like a lot of other teens. But his dad had been rodeo-star famous. And his mom had been one of the most celebrated and beautiful and talented rodeo queens in Montana. Rodeo royalty. His entire family was amazing. He was happy for all of them. Thrilled and proud. But he needed to step up.

  “We’ll see how you feel, Boone. Have fun.”

  She hopped up the two stairs to the trailer and closed the door. Locked it. Boone stared at the door, knowing this was the first part of goodbye.

  Chapter Four

  Piper entered the Copper Mountain Chocolate shop, closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. The smell was dark and rich and sweet and seemed to wrap around her somewhere deep inside. When she’d walked into the shop, there’d been three women in copper-colored aprons putting milk and dark chocolate cowboy boots in little bags with bows and larger selections in cute boxes.

  Piper realized the conversation had ceased.

  Her eyes snapped open. The three women were staring at her, smiling.

  “Ooops.” Piper laughed. “Busted.”

  “No, I still do that,” the woman with gorgeous red hair that was pinned back from her fine features said. “Every day. It never gets old. You in town for the rodeo?”

  Piper nodded, a strange lump in her throat. The women were co-workers and they seemed happy, friends even. What would it be like to have colleagues who were friends? She’d moved too much to ever have that. And when she’d danced professionally for two years, they’d always been competing for roles so you could never really trust anyone.

  Like every other business, the window of the chocolate shop was decorated for the rodeo. Probably the women were planning an event after the parade tomorrow. Piper had seen the parade advertised as she walked around the town, pinning up a few of her cards.

  She’d been surprised at how agreeable everyone had been. And how they’d been curious about her. She’d even met the owner of the hardware store, Big Z’s, Paul Zabrinski, who had cleared out a space for her and had asked her how she liked touring with the rodeo and whether she’d grown up on a ranch. He’d made her feel so welcome with his easy manner and interest when she’d told him of some of the places she’d lived and traveled to both growing up and as a dancer.

  “Sounds like a dream,” he’d said as Piper had prepared to leave. “But this business keeps me grounded. My family’s here. My wife, Bailey, and kids, friends. This is where I belong and how I like it.”

  Piper was starting to like Marietta too, the little she’d seen. And the chocolates looked and smelled divine.

  “Yes, I am,” Piper answered the red-haired woman. “I’m a masseuse traveling with the rodeo.” It made her sound more professional and less head over heels than if she said she was traveling with her boyfriend. The three faces continued to smile at her. She peered into the display case. “I love the cowboy boot chocolates. Well, I love everything cowboy lately.”

  “Don’t we all. I’m Sage. I used to barrel race. Now I’m a chocolatier and have opened a chocolate shop.”

  “What’s that song called? ‘Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy)’?” Piper said feeling comfortable with the three women—way too comfortable because the minute the words popped out of her mouth she slapped her hand over it. The words sounded so sexual when out in the open like that, and Marietta was a small town. Probably far more conservative than she was accustomed to.

  But no worries, the three women laughed.

  “Got that right,” one of them said.

  “We’ve all got cowboys so we know how it is,” Sage said. “Being on tour is a hard life. I prefer having a home and my family and friends around me and now my store. So there is life after the rodeo in case you’re wondering.”

  Piper had wondered. A lot. But it didn’t seem fair to hope for Boone to change, to give up his career. He hadn’t talked about after�
�what he wanted, his dreams, his family. She just knew his dad had been a cowboy and that he’d grown up on a Montana ranch. She wished he’d talk more about his family, had even hoped to meet them, but Boone tended to stay in the moment. Besides, maybe his relationship with his father was as fraught as hers.

  And Piper hadn’t exactly told Boone she wanted to find a place where she belonged. Create her own family and circle of friends. She hadn’t wanted to scare him away, but not talking about the future got harder and harder because she couldn’t imagine hers without him in it.

  Almost blindly she chose chocolates—milk and dark chocolate cowboy boots and salted caramels with lavender just because they sounded so gourmet.

  She even bought a hot chocolate because it was “world famous.”

  She sipped the hot chocolate. It was delicious, but not enough to soothe the ache that had opened inside of her today when Boone had become so distant. She knew what that meant. Time to be on her way. Make her own plans. She had a dream. She couldn’t let a cowboy who loved the open road steal it from her.

  Piper waved goodbye and pushed her sunglasses on her face, more to hide her stupid tears than to block the afternoon sun, as she stepped out onto the sidewalk. She tucked her chocolates into her leather backpack and scanned Main Street.

  It really looked too cute to be believed. Almost like a Hollywood set of an old western town, but updated. She could see the historic courthouse at the end of the street, facing the town, as if protecting it from whatever might come. She wanted to explore. The rodeo-themed window displays looked so sweet. She loved the history that seeped from every building, but being honest with herself, she really wanted to see the town with Boone. She loved hanging out with him—window-shopping, hiking, swimming, eating at a late-night diner. He made everything fun. And even this picturesque town with the friendly people, historic architecture, breath-taking scenery and alluring shops felt flat without him.

  But she was likely going to have to get used to being on her own again.

  “Who knows,” she whispered to herself but in some ways she felt like she was sharing her thoughts with the twin brother who’d died before he’d been born, “maybe this town needs a massage therapist.”

  She’d seen Grey’s Saloon when she’d made her first pass on one side of the street. She’d wanted to turn in, but didn’t feel welcome. And she wasn’t quite ready to face the end of the road with Boone. The Western Wear store also caught her eye. Boone had often teased her about the western-style snap shirts. It had been a bit of a back and forth flirty game with them because she would steal his shirts and wear them.

  Maybe it was time to get one and make some of her own memories. She’d fallen in love with the west—Montana even more than Colorado and Wyoming. When she allowed herself to think about the end of the tour, she fantasized about settling in a small town with friendly people and views that went on forever. Only in her dreams, she wasn’t alone.

  *

  Boone was restless, not unusual for him, but normally he contained it better. He wasn’t a kid anymore getting sent to the principal because he couldn’t keep his ass planted in a small, hard, blue plastic chair. Even playing a couple games of pool and catching up with a few friends and his father and a few ranchers also on the rodeo committee, he couldn’t help how his eyes kept straying toward the swinging double doors of the saloon.

  Piper should be here. It was nearly happy hour and a young bluegrass band was jamming—taking the piss-poor time slot just to get in some playing time.

  Piper would love the music. And she would always dance with him, her supple body close, her mouth curved in a smile just for him.

  “Sure you don’t want another beer?” his dad asked.

  Boone shrugged a no. “Only one a day during a riding weekend,” was his standard reply, and usually he stuck to the rule. He’d always felt a bit virtuous that he took good care of himself on the tour until two years ago he’d met world champion American Extreme Bull Rider, Kane Wilder, who’d been buying up a lot of ranch land around Marietta with his three brothers, Colt, Laird and Luke. Kane was going into a joint venture with Boone’s dad. Kane didn’t eat any sugar, dairy or grains and didn’t drink alcohol, not even one beer when he was on tour. Boone wasn’t that hard-core but he had made some nutritional changes with Piper’s encouragement, and he’d noticed a difference already in his healing time. Fewer aches and less stiffness.

  “Heard we got a new saddle bronc competitor joining the tour this weekend. CJ Cooper,” his dad said.

  Boone knew his dad well enough to know that there was more, so he waited.

  “A cowgirl.”

  “Seriously?” Boone’s face split in a smile. “That’s gonna scald some nuts.” Boone finished the last dregs of his beer and placed the empty on a ledge. “That’s good. Real good for the sport.”

  “Thought so too. About time.”

  “Have you seen her ride? Think she can beat Jesse Carmody? He’s riding fierce this season.”

  “That he is. No idea. We’ll get our first glimpse of her skills Saturday along with everyone else, but she qualified for her pro-card. Hope she sticks it. Good role model for kids, boys and girls.”

  Boone nodded, his mind already drifting away from the conversation, but he tried to rally so his dad wouldn’t think something was wrong, which it was.

  “Jesse will handle it better than some if she tops the leaderboard.”

  His dad snorted a laugh of agreement. Then he took a long swallow of his beer, clearly weighing his words, and Boone braced himself.

  “Season’s treatin’ you good,” his dad commented after a long pause, where Boone tried to keep his eyes on the game and not on the double doors of the entrance.

  Not like last year.

  That’s what Boone heard, but that was on him. His dad didn’t make personal digs. He said what he meant to your face. Still the comment made Boone’s gaze flick to his father, away from his deep study of the front doors. His dad never talked tour. Boone hadn’t figured out if it was because he didn’t want to put extra pressure on him, or if he was getting impatient for Boone to call it a day and come back home to work full time on the ranch. Boone loved working the ranch, but it was the Telford Family Ranch, potent with family history and his father’s accomplishments.

  Because he was Boone Telford, he’d always have a place there. But he hadn’t done anything special to earn it. Just been born a Telford.

  “’S alright.”

  His dad laughed. “You know you still got a bed at the house.”

  “Trailer suits me fine.”

  He got the look. The ‘your mom wants her son home’ look.

  “Makes more sense for me to be closer,” he defended. “Plus you and Mom are involved in a lot of the social events this weekend. And Riley’s singing at the grand reopening ceremony. You’ll see more of me in town.”

  “You haven’t been back this summer.”

  His father saw too much, and Boone felt ten again and wished he’d taken his dad up on the beer. But he knew if he kept silent the moment, such as it was, would pass.

  “You good?”

  Boone watched the pool game and jerked his head ‘yes.’

  “Hoping you’ll stop at the ranch on your way out,” his dad finally said into the fraught silence. “Got some equipment that needs your magic touch.”

  “Of course.”

  “Wilders have a few things they’d like you to look at on their ranch.”

  Boone nodded. Anything mechanical he could handle. His life, though? He seemed always poised to fuck it up.

  “They’ve been waiting a while.”

  Boone switched his gaze to the pool game.

  “And I’ll need your help with the rodeo sound system, later today or early tomorrow, and part of the stage is giving us fits.” His dad didn’t change tone, but Boone knew he was confused and disappointed. And fishing for answers.

  “Sure.” Boone shot his dad a look. “You only claim me for my
hands and inability to say no.”

  If his dad replied, he didn’t hear it because right then Piper flowed through the double doors. They immediately locked eyes, and it was just like the first time. Every time he saw her it was like the first time—that sense of falling, of breathlessness, and of a recognition that went soul-deep even as it made no sense.

  “’Scuze me. Going to ask a girl to dance.” Boone pulled away from his wall slouch, handed his pool cue to a cowboy who’d been watching and walked toward Piper with purpose.

  Damn. She’d bought a western shirt. A green and tan and pink plaid one, and she was wearing the jeans he’d bought her in Missoula with the bling on the back pockets that accented the sweet curve of her butt that always drove him to distraction. The room and the band and his father and friends all faded way.

  Was Piper wearing a bra or a tank under the shirt? She had the neck open almost to her cleavage. What the hell was she trying to do, kill him? He was so intent on watching her watch him that he didn’t notice Dean Maynard, two longnecks dangling from his fingers, reach her first.

  He couldn’t hear what Dean said, but he’d seen him in action way too many times. And Maynard had been on the tour long enough to know, absolutely know that Piper was his.

  “Back off,” he said rudely, cutting in to put his body between Dean and Piper.

  “Soft and pretty boys aren’t my type, Telford,” Dean sneered. “So get the fuck out of my face. If you’re gonna let your girl walk into a bar alone lookin’ like that, you’re gonna get some competition, and I know you aren’t always on top of your game to stick the ride.”

  Boone felt the adrenaline, already surging, slam through him like a tsunami.

  “Boone.” Piper was now between him and Dean, her arms looped around his neck and her body pressed to his. “Let’s dance.”

  He was shaking with the unspent adrenaline. Maynard’s lip curled, mocking him. Daring him. Hell, yeah, Dean wanted him to throw the first punch. That could get him cut from the tour faster than low scores. Dean was used to being on top, and this year he was falling in the rankings, fast. And drinking heavily.